Northern Football League reveals early plans for footy’s return in 2021
The Northern Football League is finalising its 2021 fixture and, barring a COVID-19 third wave, has locked in a proposed Round 1 date. Plus, how the game will operate under health and safety protocols
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The Northern Football League is targeting a return to football in early April.
The league hopes to kick off the 2021 season on April 10th, the weekend after Easter, 568 days after it’s last match – the 2019 Division 1 grand final.
The proposed date will allow clubs to plan their pre-season preparations amid the ongoing COVID-19 turmoil.
While training could start as early as November 23, several clubs have already postponed their return until January due to excessive health and safety protocols.
NFL CEO Peter McDougall said the cancelled season had been a learning opportunity and planning for 2021 was well underway.
“We’ll certainly be better prepared for what comes our way in the new year, it’s just a matter of what does that look like,” he said.
“At this stage our senior fixture isn’t too far away from being finalised. We’re working from the weekend of the 10th of April as a starting point.
“We’re pretty comfortable that we’ll be OK for that, anything short of a third wave, we’ll be well placed to start on time.
“There will be some points of difference based on what we’ve learned this year from a COVID point of view – crowd numbers, how many people you can have in doors – all those sort of things.”
The year off has also allowed the NFL, together with its seven metropolitan league partners, to assess how other leagues have handled the pandemic-impacted season.
Victoria is the only state that wasn’t able to get a season started.
“As a collective of leagues we’re pretty advanced in making sure we’ve got all that covered by picking the brains of everyone that got the play this year,” McDougall said.
“I think if you look at where leagues were in other states this year, they played, they had crowds, I think that’s the worst case scenario (for us).
“I think there’s a bit of comfort there, obviously everything has an asterisk next to it depending on whether there’s a third wave and we all hope that doesn’t happen.”
The cancelled season has put extraordinary pressure on clubs’ to balance finances and monitor the mental health of officials and players.
Northern Football League clubs have used the time to fundraise and prepare for next season with COVID-19 restrictions.
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McDougall praised the league’s clubs’ efforts during a difficult 2020.
“I must say a lot of the clubs are well organised and well prepared and are already putting in place plans for next year if they can’t use their social rooms,” he said.
“A number of club’s I’ve spoken to are looking at contingency plans for how they manage an after-match, when they have a lot of people come in after a game, which is great.”
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